Search

About Extra Extra

Extra! Extra! is a blog devoted to current examples of investigative reporting, including in-depth projects, enterprise and breaking news with impact, use of public documents and Freedom of Information laws, use of data or computer-assisted reporting tools, and other examples of watchdog journalism from all media.

Email your story suggestions to extraextra@ire.org. Please include a working URL for the story; you may also include an optional synopsis of 100 words or less.

Extra Extra

Posted

Tagged

For decades, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been shifting money into separate nonprofits that may be beyond the reach of its creditors in bankruptcy court. The nonprofits were created for various reasons, but they carry the potential benefit of protecting the church’s assets from liability linked to clergy abuse suits. The moves are seen as prudent by some church finance leaders, while others view them as maneuvers to transfer money to places where victims and their lawyers will have a harder time reaching it.

Extra Extra

Posted

Tagged

“A memo written in 2011 obtained by MPR News from police shows the former vicar general – the top deputy of the archdiocese – did not want parish employees to know about Wehmeyer's past. ‘At every step of the way, this could have been prevented,’ Haselberger said. ‘This is just failure after failure after failure after failure.’”

The New Haven RegisterConnecticut superintendents get many perks in addition to salaries“Meal allowances, housing help, generous mileage reimbursements and bonuses of up to $30,000 a year are some perks Connecticut school superintendents get in addition to their annual salaries.”The Texas TribuneA Part-Time Legislature, but in Whose Interest?“Wth a conflict disclosure system rife with holes, virtually toothless ethics laws often left to the interpretation of the lawmakers they are supposed to regulate, and a Legislature historically unwilling to make itself more transparent, the reality is Texans know exceedingly little about who or what influences the ...

The Seattle TimesGlamour Beasts: The Dark Side of Elephant Captivity“Zoos' efforts to preserve and propagate elephants have largely failed, both in Seattle and nationally. The infant-mortality rate for elephants in zoos is almost triple the rate in the wild.”

Food and Environment Reporting NetworkFracking our food supply“In Pennsylvania, the oil and gas industry is already on a tear—drilling thousands of feet into ancient seabeds, then repeatedly fracturing (or “fracking”) these wells with millions of gallons of highly pressurized, chemically laced water, which shatters the surrounding shale and releases fossil fuels. New York, meanwhile, is on ...

Extra Extra

Posted

Tagged

The Charlotte Observer published a two-part investigation into the Inspiration Network, which has become one of the world’s fastest growing religious broadcasters largely by repeating this on-air pitch: God brings financial favor to those who donate to the network. Those contributions have turned the network’s CEO into one of the nation’s best-paid non-profit leaders, with compensation exceeding $1.5 million a year. The broadcaster has also secured millions in relocation incentives from the state of South Carolina, but has failed to live up to many of its development promises, the paper reported.